First full day at Yellowstone

Today was our first full day in the park, and it did not disappoint.  We haven't seen coyotes in a while, and this little guy crossed our path early this morning.

 

Then we found this wonderful osprey nest on the Lamar River.  Osprey love to fish (and they are very good at it) so this is like setting up house next door to the restaurant.  They are such wonderful parents, but maybe a little intensive in their next building?...oh well, we all have issues!!!

Finally, one of the deep dark secrets of our trips to Yellowstone is that Claire seemed to bring a "bear jinx" everytime she showed up.  IOW, bears were every where, except when Claire comes to YNP, the bears go hiding.  Although the first group was (in Walt's exact estimation, "A long way away!") in the distance, they were still bears.

 Then 2 hours later we saw a black sow with a black cup & cinnamon cup just like the "long way away" family.  That was about 6 to 7 miles in 2 hours.  The rangers then informed us that a black & cinnamon cup in the same family isn't all that rare, so it was probably another family - at least I'm counting it that way....so far that makes the total for the first day 6 bears!!!

Finally just outside Mammoth (from Mammoth to Lava Creek) was this pair a cinnamon mom and black cup!  However not all of them were cooperative.  These two just didn't want to have a Kodak moment!  I can't understand why!!!

 

And finally, there's nothing like a great dust wallow - if you're a bison that is!!!  You can almost see the satisfaction. This time of hear the bison are rubbing up against anything and everything to shed their winter coat, and a good dirt wallow is just what feels good!